Alternative currencies are an emerging trend. Some alternative currencies have been created in response to a lack of long-term confidence in monetary methods of exchange; some as a community hedge against inflation; others merely as a medium of exchange between members of a physical or virtual community, among other reasons.
There are many different types of alternative currencies (herein also “alternative forms of value” or simply “alternative value”), each currency representing what the community holds valuable (e.g. time, labor/skill, goods/services, etc.). Alternative currencies currently in use include: “LindenDollars”—Second Life; Amazon.com's “Quest Gold”; World of Warcraft's (WoW) virtual “Gold”; Ithaca Hours (Ithaca, N.Y.); Carbon credits; regional currencies in Germany; “Dotz” (Brazil); Tradebank “Credits” (Construction-centric barter network); “Lassobucks” (Time/Skillset currency); Maha Vitaran—Indian power utility barters with other utilities for power; “Bartercard”—Loaded with goods & services (not cash), used in exchange for other goods & services. Many others are planned or currently in development.
The proliferation of alternative currencies has produced the need for those using such alternative currencies to exchange their holdings among different alternative currencies and/or to convert their holdings into a form of money.
Currency, as used herein, means a unit whose relative value is determined by a community. Currency, therefore, is distinguishable from money (e.g. the Dollar, Euro, Pound, Peso, etc.), whose value is determined at least partly by its issuing authority. Alternative currencies are emerging globally and are being used as a medium of trade in the place of money. In many instances, the value of an alternative currency is tied directly or indirectly to one or more specific forms of money, but in some instances this is not the case. Hence, improvements in the art are needed.